Mark Vilain’s winning lager. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
A Vienna lager brewed by Marc Vilain of Oak Hill Road recently won “Best in Show” at the Greater Gardner Home Brewing Competition, a scholarship fundraiser organized by Dave Higgins, head brewer at Wachusett Brewing Company. Vilain describes his beer—one of 100 batches he has made over the years—as being of “an historic style, close in flavor to an Oktoberfest beer, rich and malty, and much more satisfying than its more commercialized cousins,” such as Negro Modelo or Dos Equis. Vilain named his beer “Du bist ein Dummkopf” (You are a Nincompoop), explaining that the winning beer resulted from his errors in first recording the recipe and then in weighing the grain. The competition was judged by a panel of brewing professionals and chefs.
